[Sussex] Copywrite and the Old Woman ...

[Geoff Teale]

On Saturday 09 July 2005 22:59, Nicholas Butler wrote:
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> Whats part of Free is really the important part for you ?

Perhaps unsurprisingly the "free as in freedom" concept is where I come from.    

That isn't a libertarian point of view I should add  - Libertarians believe 
that there should be as little law as possible and everyone should be allowed 
to do whatever they live even if it has a negative effect on others.  I 
believe that we should be free to do as we wish so long as what we do does 
not cause harm to others.  Things that do cause harm to other people, like 
speeding (to use an example Nik already suggested) should continue to be 
legislated against and that legislation vigorously enforced.  I should add 
that I regularly break the speed limit despite knowing this is wrong and 
being well aware of the potentially tragic consequences of this action.  This 
only goes to prove that education isn't the entire cure to any problem - 
given the real-world freedom to do something stupid and potentially harmfull 
human beings will do so.  I am actively trying to stop myself from driving 
recklessly (in much the same way people give up smoking) lets see how I get 
on :-)    The interesting thing here is that speed cameras do work.  I slow 
down for them.  As we all know, people speed up again once they are past them 
- there must be a better solution without being to intrusive.    

These views (freedom to the extent that you can be free without reducing the 
freedom of others) are those expressed in the GNU manifesto and in the GPL.  
Hence me strong association with the FSF.

The "free as in beer" thing is not an issue for me at all.  I like being able 
to access software free of charge , but it isn't a requirement for me.  I'm 
actively in favour of software developers getting paid to do that work (if 
only because that's how I put a roof over my head).  I'm equally in favour of 
musicians being paid for their work (if only because that's how I used to put 
a roof over my head).    

-- 
Geoff Teale
Free Software Foundation